Harry's Hair and Calorimetry

It is COLD outside! Man, could we have more snow/sleet? BRRR!!!

Even though it's cold, I've been braving the weather and making my daily trips to the barn to ride. Last night, I curried Harry for a LONG time to help him get rid of some of the hair that he's shedding. I could not BELIEVE how much hair I got off of him. I took a picture with his hoof in it for perspective - and he's got big feet!!



Also, when I got home last night I finished a project! I got my swap kit from my winter scarf kit swap the other day, and I received 2 lovely skeins of Noro silk garden. I decided to use one to do Calorimetry. I was hoping that I would get through all the colors and I just did. The yarn was the perfect length, having only a few feet of yarn left over. When I put it on, it didn't fit quite like I had expected, so I'm not sure what I'm going to do about that now, but I wanted to post so you could see the way the colors played out - it's pretty cool!

Something Silly...

I stole this from Midnight2Sticks. It is too funny, so I had to do it!



1. YOUR GANGSTA NAME (First 3 letters of first name plus izzle)
Broizzle

2. YOUR DETECTIVE NAME: (fav color and fav animal)
Red Horse

3. YOUR SOAP OPERA NAME: (middle name, and current street name)
Allison Lakeside

4. YOUR STAR WARS NAME: (the first 3 letters of your last name, first 2 letters of your first name, first 3 letters of mom's maiden name)
Shibrqui

5. YOUR SUPERHERO NAME: (2nd favorite color, favorite drink).
Blue Pepsi

6. YOUR WITNESS PROTECTION NAME: (mother's middle name)
Louise

7. YOUR GOTH NAME: (black, and the name of one your pets)
This could be one of many - and they're all funny! Black Harry, Black Kitty, Black Radar - you pick!

HARRY!!!!!!!

I just flew in from Florida this morning....and BOY my arms are tired!!

I'll be sure to post more about my Florida trip later as there is a lot to tell, and some fun pictures to go with that, but for now - I'm about ready to go to bed. BUT, I couldn't go to bed without posting the BEST NEWS I've had in a LOOOOOOOOONG time!

When I got home from the airport today, I had already scheduled an appointment with my vet to re-evaluate Harry's leg to see if I could start riding him again. He was injured back at the end of October, and it's been a long time waiting...I've missed it so much! Yeah, I've ridden other people's horses, but it just isn't the same. Anyway, the vet was there right on time (UNUSUAL!!) and I brought Harry down as fast as I could so that we could ultrasound his leg. This is the third time we've done that since the injury. We have NEVER seen a tear or even a small hole or small black speck or ANYTHING on the tendon, but we wanted to make sure before he went back to work. Dr. B said that it still looked great and it was about time for me to start riding him again! I was SO excited! I ran to my car, grabbed my breeches, changed clothes and hopped right on!



That is him right after we were done with our ride. He looks SO enthused, I know - haha. The pic is a little blurry, but he's all warm and cozy in his fancy-schmancy cooler that we got for Christmas 2 years ago from Laura.

The ride - it was SO awesome! He was so even, he was tracking right up even on a loose rein, and he went right to work like we had never taken a break. Actually, he felt more even from side to side than he ever had felt before - so a positive not from all of this might be that I can now muscle him evenly on both sides so he isn't so strong on the right and tough to the left.

I can't stand how excited I am - I really needed this!

My latest project...

Parts of today were really good. These parts include: class was cancelled, we closed at work early, and I got to spend an evening at home relaxing (I should have been cleaning and packing, but whatever). Anyway, so I spent an evening knitting and I worked on my cable ready bag that I started last night. I did maybe 4 rows last night, and tonight - I am 7 rows from finishing the fist side. I took this picture an hour ago - a few inches ago.

This pattern is super fun because the way you finish it with the purse handles totally changes the shape and the look of the purse. The cables are offset every other row which also gives a cool pattern. I am liking this more than I thought I would!

That picture isn't great because you really can't see the detail of the cables, or the relative size of the purse. The finished size is supposed to be 15" x 10", but this is quite a bit longer than 15" right now. I guess once it's sewn and pulled into shape, it'll be shorter.

P.S. Make sure to see how adorable Harry is in my previous post!

New projects ... I think

Today, I actually got some knitting done for the first time since almost a month ago! I went to the barn this morning because Harry is going out again, and he has to be sedated to go out because he is not allowed to run or even trot until we ultrasound his leg again (which will hopefully be next week - keep your fingers crossed!!). Anyway, it was TOO COLD to stand outside with him for the 2 hours that he was outside, so instead - I drove my car up by his paddock and sat in there to knit while I watched to make sure he was calm and just hanging out while he was outside.

He was so good, and I got several rows done in my irish cable bag! I am excited to get that done, but it is seeming a bit tedious right now. I know that I'll use it when I'm done with it, so that makes it more appealing to do. I'm struggling, though, because I want to do a couple of pairs of fingerless gloves before it gets too warm to wear them!

So, because of that - I have been looking for a pattern that I LOVE, but I haven't had much luck. I was searching on the internet for days (literally, I had dreams/nightmares about it - not kidding...I know, I'm a freak) and couldn't find 'that' pattern. Finally, I decided it would be fun to do fingerless gloves with some of my self-striping sock yarn. I went to the dreaded website of 'L.B.' and actually found a cute-ish pattern. While I was there, I also saw a pattern that uses some yarn that I have leftover from a Christmas present I made (if you remember that cream and brown sweater that I made for my friend Cathy). It's a super cute purse that I think will go really super fast with that yarn, so I got both patterns.


I am going to alter the fingerless gloves pattern to include some cute edging on the top of them - and I might actually knit them so that the stripes on the arms go in the direction of elbow to wrist, rather than around (slimming, right??). I don't know - going to play with it a little bit.

Anyway, I'm just blabbing. Lots going on in my head right now...lots and lots....**sigh**.

A BIG Decision for me!!!

So I had to make a decision that was a really hard one for me. After a LOT of thought and consideration...and a few tears...I've decided that I am going to (possibly) rip out the sock that I've started. I found a pattern online today that I think might go faster and would therefore frustrate me less.

((this is not a picture of the sock I've done, rather the pattern I want to do))

These socks are knit sideways rather than in the round, then you kitchner the back seam. I think it's a fun way to use self striping sock yarn, so I might give it a shot. I might actually be a big chicken and not rip out what I've started - but start with a different skein. Who knows...I'll decide after I get home today ;-)

Let me know what you think in the meantime!

Oh man....

So yesterday was not a great day. I was stressed, rushed, etc, etc, etc. Whatever - no big deal. Anyway, I got home and was just pooped after a long, yucky day and decided to surf around on the web a little bit. I found these two things - the first one CRACKED me up! Man, I laughed HARD!!! The second one....um, I'm not sure if I thought it was funny, creepy, or just really sad. I don't know what is worse - what they're actually doing, or the HORRIBLE job of dubbing the word "glutes" for "boots". Watch the second one with discretion. I really went back and forth about posting it on here (Apparantly it is from some belly dancing workout video - who knew!). It disturbed me that much...but then I laughed. Anyway, I'll look forward to some comments on them both! (Marie - the first one might scare you...but only you!)

Embarassing - but too funny to not post.

So today, I had an interview and I wore some black boots that are kind of tight in the foot, so I either have to wear 'hose' or 'nylons' (whichever you prefer) or SUPER thin socks. Well - since most of you don't ride, you won't understand this - I also have socks that I wear under my riding boots that are FUN and some of them are my 'good luck' socks. They are really thin (kind of like knee-hi's) but have fun designs on them. I couldn't decide whether to wear my 'good luck dressage' socks or my 'good luck stadium' socks, so I decided to wear one of each. Anyway, I was in a hurry when I Was changing clothes for work later, so I just left them on and threw my white socks on over them. You can BARELY see that in the bottom of the picture, but I thought this was kinda funny - so I took a picture and decided to share it with all of you!! Enjoy!!

(WOW this pic makes my calves look HUGE!!!! Yikes - that's no good. Remember, I was a ballet dancer for 16 years - that's ALL muscle, baby!!)

for midnight 2 sticks

Here is a pic of my danica. I haven't touched it since November. Oops!!

What the heck?!

So, I was surfing around on youtube trying to entertain myself on yet ANOTHER boring Saturday. Don't get me started on that.

Anyway, I came across this video. You have got to be kidding me!